Introduction:My experiment will be trying to determine if birds prefer to eat to no music, classical music or pop/rock music. I chose this experiment because I like to listen to music when I'm doing almost anything, and I wondered if birds might like to listen to music as well. Or, will the music be distracting and/or threatening to them so more birds will come to the feeder when no music is playing.
Hypothesis: I think that the birds will prefer to eat at the feeder when classical music is playing. I think that over all they will prefer to be there when there is no music but between the two types of music I think that they will like the Classical better.
Reasoning:I think that more birds will come to the feeder when there is classical music playing rather than pop/rock. I think this is because classical music has a soothing and calming sound. From my research I discovered that birds' brains respond to music in a very similar way that humans' brains do, and I think that birds will be soothed by classical music just like a human would be.
Procedure:For my project I have decided to work with birds and music. To find the answer to my question: What kind of music will birds prefer to eat to? I am going to put up one bird feeder filled with the same kind of bird seed every week. Every day for one week I am going to watch the birds and see how many come to the feeder with no music playing. I will do this twice a day; once in the morning for one hour and once in the early evening for one hour. After recording my data for that week, I will then play music and observe their eating habits at the same times of day to music. For the first week with music I am going to play classical music so I ease them into hearing something new. After I have recorded my data for that week I will observe the birds behavior when I play pop/rock music for one week. After observing them for the three weeks I am going to compare all of my data together using a chart. Over the three weeks I will have taken pictures as the project goes on. I will observe the bird feeder from 7:00-8:00 am and 5:15-6:15 pm each day. The birds that I expect to see in my back yard include: American Goldfinches, American Finches, Carolina Wrens, Cardinals and House Finches Variables: An independent variable is the variable in the experiment that you can change. In my experiment, the independent variable is the music. First I will get a baseline with no music and then change the music for two consecutive weeks between classical and pop/rock. The dependent variable is a variable that depends on the independent variable. My dependent variable is the birds and how the birds will respond to the music. I'm trying to determine if they prefer a certain type of music when they are eating.
Materials:
Bird Feeder
Bird Seed
iPod/iPhone (For Music) with speakers
Music (Rock/Pop and Classical)
Measuring cup
Camera
It will take me three weeks to complete my project.
Data:
Week 1
Total Birds
Week 2
Total Birds
Week 3
Total Birds
Day 1
6
Day 1
29
Day 1
26
Day 2
3
Day 2
30
Day 2
34
Day 3
0
Day 3
41
Day 3
45
Day 4
8
Day 4
48
Day 4
43
Day 5
5
Day 5
55
Day 5
55
Day 6
10
Day 6
63
Day 6
50
Day 7
4
Day 7
53
Day 7
53
Graphs:
Results: During the first week of observation, with no music, I only had 36 visits to the feeder. I had 319 visits when I played classical music and 306 visits when I played pop/rock music. From week one to week two I saw a 786% increase in bird visits to the feeder. I saw a 750% increase in visits between week one and week three. I observed 13 more visits to the feeder the week that I played classical music compared to the week that I played pop/rock, which is about 4% more. My experiment supported my hypothesis that birds would prefer to eat to classical music.
Discussion: During the first week of observation, I saw very little activity at the feeder. I think this could have been due to two things. First, it was pouring down rain during many of my observation periods. I didn't keep track of the exact weather during each observation period but that may be a good thing to note in future experiments. Second, the feeder had been empty for several months before the experiment so it may have taken the birds a little time to realize that there was food in the feeder. Week two, which was much nicer weather, saw a huge increase in the number of visits to the feeder. Maybe it was due to the fact that birds really do like to have some music playing while they feed, but it also have been better weather and knowing that the feeder was full. The difference between week two and three, both playing music, was very small. In fact, there were many times, that if I looked away for a minute I would realize that the feeder was rocking but I might have missed a bird. I didn't specifically keep track of the morning and afternoon sessions, but there were generally more birds in the morning than in the afternoon. Also, my afternoon session times varied a little depending on when I got home from school, so it's possible that some days weren't the optimal feeding time for the birds. If I were to repeat the experiment I would need to keep all of the times exactly the same so that the results would be more reliable. Finally, I tried to play the music at the same volume all of the days and both weeks but even though the volume was supposed to be the same, I think the pop music sounded a little louder. It didn't seem to make that much of a difference in the number of birds but for future experiments it would be best to regulate the volume a little better.
Resources: For future investigations, there are a number of things that could be done differently to make the experiment more reliable. The observations should be completed during comparable weather situations. I really believe that the pouring down rain the first week impacted the number of birds that I saw. Also, the time of day that observations were completed and the volume of the music should be consistent. Finally, even though I saw 50 or more visits to the feeder on some days, I'm pretty sure it was the same handful of birds coming again and again. They would eat and fly to the trees and I'm pretty sure they would come right back but I'm not good enough at identifying the birds to be positive.Also, I saw a variety of different birds and some of them seemed a little more aggressive at the feeder. It would be interesting to keep track of the types of birds that came the most often and maybe if a certain type seemed to like the music more. I mixed all of the birds together so I wouldn't have noticed a difference in that.
Bibliography "Birds' Brains Respond to Music the Same Way Human Brains Do." Io9. N.p., 21 Dec. 2012. Web. 20 Sept. 2015. "Birds Respond Emotionally to Music Just as Humans Do." The Mary Sue Birds Respond Emotionally to Music Just as Humans Do Comments. N.p., 28 Dec. 2012. Web. 20 Sept. 2015.
Musical Birds?
Introduction: My experiment will be trying to determine if birds prefer to eat to no music, classical music or pop/rock music. I chose this experiment because I like to listen to music when I'm doing almost anything, and I wondered if birds might like to listen to music as well. Or, will the music be distracting and/or threatening to them so more birds will come to the feeder when no music is playing.
Hypothesis: I think that the birds will prefer to eat at the feeder when classical music is playing. I think that over all they will prefer to be there when there is no music but between the two types of music I think that they will like the Classical better.
Reasoning: I think that more birds will come to the feeder when there is classical music playing rather than pop/rock. I think this is because classical music has a soothing and calming sound. From my research I discovered that birds' brains respond to music in a very similar way that humans' brains do, and I think that birds will be soothed by classical music just like a human would be.
Procedure: For my project I have decided to work with birds and music. To find the answer to my question: What kind of music will birds prefer to eat to? I am going to put up one bird feeder filled with the same kind of bird seed every week. Every day for one week I am going to watch the birds and see how many come to the feeder with no music playing. I will do this twice a day; once in the morning for one hour and once in the early evening for one hour. After recording my data for that week, I will then play music and observe their eating habits at the same times of day to music. For the first week with music I am going to play classical music so I ease them into hearing something new. After I have recorded my data for that week I will observe the birds behavior when I play pop/rock music for one week. After observing them for the three weeks I am going to compare all of my data together using a chart. Over the three weeks I will have taken pictures as the project goes on. I will observe the bird feeder from 7:00-8:00 am and 5:15-6:15 pm each day. The birds that I expect to see in my back yard include:
American Goldfinches, American Finches, Carolina Wrens, Cardinals and House Finches
Variables:
An independent variable is the variable in the experiment that you can change. In my experiment, the independent variable is the music. First I will get a baseline with no music and then change the music for two consecutive weeks between classical and pop/rock. The dependent variable is a variable that depends on the independent variable. My dependent variable is the birds and how the birds will respond to the music. I'm trying to determine if they prefer a certain type of music when they are eating.
Materials:
It will take me three weeks to complete my project.
Data:
Graphs:
Results:
During the first week of observation, with no music, I only had 36 visits to the feeder. I had 319 visits when I played classical music and 306 visits when I played pop/rock music. From week one to week two I saw a 786% increase in bird visits to the feeder. I saw a 750% increase in visits between week one and week three. I observed 13 more visits to the feeder the week that I played classical music compared to the week that I played pop/rock, which is about 4% more. My experiment supported my hypothesis that birds would prefer to eat to classical music.
Discussion:
During the first week of observation, I saw very little activity at the feeder. I think this could have been due to two things. First, it was pouring down rain during many of my observation periods. I didn't keep track of the exact weather during each observation period but that may be a good thing to note in future experiments. Second, the feeder had been empty for several months before the experiment so it may have taken the birds a little time to realize that there was food in the feeder. Week two, which was much nicer weather, saw a huge increase in the number of visits to the feeder. Maybe it was due to the fact that birds really do like to have some music playing while they feed, but it also have been better weather and knowing that the feeder was full. The difference between week two and three, both playing music, was very small. In fact, there were many times, that if I looked away for a minute I would realize that the feeder was rocking but I might have missed a bird. I didn't specifically keep track of the morning and afternoon sessions, but there were generally more birds in the morning than in the afternoon. Also, my afternoon session times varied a little depending on when I got home from school, so it's possible that some days weren't the optimal feeding time for the birds. If I were to repeat the experiment I would need to keep all of the times exactly the same so that the results would be more reliable. Finally, I tried to play the music at the same volume all of the days and both weeks but even though the volume was supposed to be the same, I think the pop music sounded a little louder. It didn't seem to make that much of a difference in the number of birds but for future experiments it would be best to regulate the volume a little better.
Resources:
For future investigations, there are a number of things that could be done differently to make the experiment more reliable. The observations should be completed during comparable weather situations. I really believe that the pouring down rain the first week impacted the number of birds that I saw. Also, the time of day that observations were completed and the volume of the music should be consistent. Finally, even though I saw 50 or more visits to the feeder on some days, I'm pretty sure it was the same handful of birds coming again and again. They would eat and fly to the trees and I'm pretty sure they would come right back but I'm not good enough at identifying the birds to be positive.Also, I saw a variety of different birds and some of them seemed a little more aggressive at the feeder. It would be interesting to keep track of the types of birds that came the most often and maybe if a certain type seemed to like the music more. I mixed all of the birds together so I wouldn't have noticed a difference in that.
Bibliography
"Birds' Brains Respond to Music the Same Way Human Brains Do."
Io9. N.p., 21 Dec. 2012. Web. 20 Sept. 2015.
"Birds Respond Emotionally to Music Just as Humans Do." The Mary
Sue Birds Respond Emotionally to Music Just as Humans Do Comments.
N.p., 28 Dec. 2012. Web. 20 Sept. 2015.